How to improve workforce performance?

How to improve workforce performance at the European market and what are the current biggest challenges in the field were among the hottest issues discussed at HR Forum, organized in Bled by the IEDC Bled School of Management on October 1st-2nd, 2015. The Japanese HR management method that helps career development and is based on non-hierarchical basis has been explained and showcased to 80 HR managers from 13 countries, coming from the biggest and well-known companies.

What is the recipe for success?

Continuous communication between managers and employees, exchange of opinions and constant investment into employees’ knowledge and skills set lead to success. It sounds simple and logical, however, it looks like we are again learning the basics, which some people know already and earn a lot of money on it.

»Scramble for constant improvement of business performance takes away a lot of precious employees time for relaxed conversations and exchange of experience« states a Canadian, Phil LeNir, a managing partner and a co-founder of Coaching Ourselves. Mr. LeNir co-developed a method of knowledge transfer among employees 8 years ago. »It's the people that make organizations work, it's the people that make organizations successful, and it's the people in the organizations that give us the financial results«, continues Mr. LeNir.

Knowledge exchange within the organisation creates the atmosphere of unity. Exactly that allowed Fujitsu, a leading European computer company to increase its performance by 50% in less than a decade. Interstingly enough there is an 8 hour working day in this multinational company. As Kentaro Iijima, the Corporate Senior Vice President of Fujitsu Marketing Limited, says: »It's important how to motivate employees and especially strengthen management skills in middle managers«. In Fujitsu, the Vice President of Human Resources is the second person after the CEO.

This kind of thinking that we are all people, not human resources, is lacking in Slovenia - is convinced Mr. Ian Sutherland, the vice dean of research of the IEDC – Bled School of Management. »Companies across the world, in Europe and especially in this region, need to think more about learning aspects of the organizations and how they are incorporating also younger people into their organizations«, says Mr. Sutherland.

Yiannis Koutrakis, a Greek that for the last 4 years works as an IBM SEE Area HR Leader and has more than 20 years of experience in corporations as Coca Cola, Microsoft and Adecco, agrees that people are the biggest asset of the company, and hiring of employees has to be done wisely: »It is very much based on trying to understand who the candidate is and what is the value that he can bring to the company but also how the company can be of value for his career and for himself«. He is also convinced, that people working in an environment they feel good in and are happy to go to work every day, bring results and have more capacity to change the world to better.